In 1824, Edwin Ferry Johnson, a young cadet at Alden Partridge’s military school, hiked up Norwich’s Prospect Hill, plunked himself down and drew a detailed pen and ink sketch of Norwich with Hanover in the distance. The drawing includes the South Meeting House, which later became the Congregational Church, and Alden Partridge’s American, Literary, Scientific & Military Academy, which became Norwich University in 1834. Johnson’s sketch shows a prosperous village that had seen its population grow from 1,158 in 1790 to 2,316 in 1830. Wool production, apple growing and farming were fueling the growth. A toll bridge to Hanover was built in 1796.… Read More

Editor’s Note: For a few years now, the Norwich Times has been featuring our young people thinking, doing, and living outside the box. Rather than follow the traditional four-years-of-high-school on to four-years-of-college route, these adventurous souls are recognizing that there are many paths, and that some may lead to a whole new world to explore. Read about Abby Dole, Maisie MacMillen, and Cleo Roback as they tell us about their exciting and humbling travels to distant lands.

Abby enjoying the sights in Paris

Abby Dole

I began the fall of 2017 in Boulder, Colorado, working to save up for my travels, hiking, and living with my sister.… Read More

Residents of Norwich: Have you seen a man blowing giant bubbles larger than a five-year-old at Marion Cross School? Or did you notice in the town picture that one of the residents has on a massive Bernie Sanders Puppet head? Perhaps maybe at Dan and Whit’s last year, you noticed an out-of-the-ordinary housing ad? It wasn’t on a white, 8.5 x 11 piece of paper, but a colorful 3D cardboard cut-out featuring bees, ukuleles, chickens, a red Canadian Maple leaf, and individually drawn portraits of a family of four. They were seeking a house in Norwich by July 1st, which was clearly noted as Canada Day.… Read More

Imagine having your world slowly shrouded in darkness. Once, you were able to see clearly: the snow, the grass, the faces of your loved ones. But then your eyes, your windows into the world, began to cloud over, and you lost sight of that beauty piece by piece. This is the tragedy inflicted by cataracts in the developing world. And the goal of the Himalayan Cataract Project, whose offices include a team right here in Norwich, is to fix it.

The Himalayan Cataract Project, or HCP, was founded in 1995 by two ophthalmologists, Dr. Geoffrey Tabin and Dr. Sanduk Ruit, who pioneered a low-cost, high-volume surgical technique for removing cataracts.… Read More

In some traditions, it all begins with the Word. In keeping with the power of words, and with the relative rarity of the skill, many ancient cultures revered writing, and honored those who could write and read. Now we’re living through changes that find writing reduced to texting. For words we may substitute acronyms or emojis. Some lament the lack of penmanship training in school, but others say, “Who needs it?” Even keyboarding on a QWERTY typewriter is losing out to double-thumbing on a screen-ette.

Zora Neal Hurston’s quote “She stood there until something fell off the shelf inside her” painted by Di Piazza

And then there’s Laura Di Piazza.… Read More

Norwich Residents Lend a Hand

Meghan Wilson (right) poses with her friend Noelia in Puerto Rico

Noelia, Yiria, Elliot, Rose and Glenda. They are the reason why I’m motivated to continue to support and reach out after Hurricane Maria landed on Puerto Rico in September. They are my colleagues and friends on the island, and they are leaders in their separate communities, supporting others and affecting positive change after the storm.

I’m taking a leave of absence this year from teaching biology at Hartford High School and am currently in Mexico to improve my Spanish in order to communicate more effectively.… Read More

Navigating young-adulthood is not always easy. Relationships are difficult. School is challenging. Responsibility is not always an easy concept to grasp. And control does not always seem attainable. Often times, passion and involvement are the things that make all of these challenges seem less daunting and more manageable.

For Sophie Cardenali, that passion and that involvement have been found within the sporting community. Sophie, a Norwich resident and Hanover High School graduate, has been playing sports for as long as she remembers. With parents that both coach skiing, Cardenali recalls fondly that sports have “…always been a big part of my life.”

Cardenali played soccer until her sophomore year of high school before realizing that the match was not meant to be and pursued field hockey for the rest of her high school career.… Read More

Norwich Residents Reach Out with Aid

We have all seen the bumper sticker and t-shirts carrying the Vermont Strong inscription.

Recently a group of Norwich residents proved that motto is not merely a fancy catch phrase by offering a shining example of how neighbors care for neighbors.

Vickie Seaver holds debris ironically emblazoned ‘Happiness Guaranteed’

On July 1 of this year, the property owned by Michael and Vickie Seaver on New Boston Road in Norwich was devastated by a sudden downpour that produced more than four inches of heavy rain in a mere few hours. The freakish storm wreaked havoc for the residents along the New Boston and Ladeau Roads.… Read More

There’s an old saying that goes if you find a job you truly love, you’ll never work a day in your life. Nothing could be truer for Norwich’s Jay Avis. He is a mechanical engineer by training (although he’ll tell you that he’s been “fighting it all along”) and has managed to couple those skills with his interest in primitive living and passion for helping others. From working as an outdoor educator and leading wilderness expeditions, to volunteering for Hospice and providing compassionate respite care, Jay has never lost sight of finding problems and helping people solve them. “It is a labor of love,” he says.… Read More

When I was a student, I avoided history. Both my brothers and my dad are dyslexic, and sometimes I feel like I am, too, says Heidi Fishman of Norwich. “I never aspired to be a writer.” So how did she come to be the author of a compelling historical novel about surviving the Holocaust? The story that so strongly moved her beyond her experience as a student, and her practice as a psychologist, was the tale of her mother, Ruth ‘Tutti’ Lichtenstern Fishman, a child survivor of the Holocaust. The result of Heidi’s work is Tutti’s Promise.  Heidi gathered the anecdotes her mother had told her and her brothers as they grew up, and conducted research in Holocaust archives.… Read More